St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-05-29
DELAY IN SECURING PARKS.

In the United States senate, Feb. 10,
1867, Senator Is. GRAFT BROWN, of Mis-
3Our. proposed That tract of land in
she District of Columbia, along and adj
1acent to Rock creek, shall be purchased
by the United States for the purposes of
a public park" The tract comprised
2,70o acres.
Senator BROWN stated that the land
could then be obtained at an average
price of perhaps less than S20o an acre.
His bill was not passed and has not yet
been passed, because congress was not
educated up to proper appreciation of
parks. But movement is now on foot
TO secure the land for park, and the
government will probably pay million
or two dollars more for the land than it
would have cost twenty years ago. Sen-
ator BROWN advocated his bill in a short
speech filing less than three cOlumnSof
the Congressional Globe, but which, as
piece of English prose, seems to me
equal to anything from the pen of
WASHINGTON IRVING. l quote from it
as follows:
Il suppose all members of the senate
are familiar enough with the environs
of the city to know the beautiful
and romantic valleys of Rock creek
The character of the ground around and
adjacent to that stream is exactly
suited to the purposes we desire. 1t
has running water: it has rugged hills;
it has abundance of varied forest tim
Der; it has native underground blush
ing with beauty. 1t has the tangled
vine and clustering wild flower, and
quiet moses gray with age, and indeed
a thousand imprints of native adorn-
men that no hand of art could ever
equal III its most initiative mood. More
over, with so much of attractiveneSs in
its present uncultivated state, it has
likewise every capacity for adornment
and development, and can be made with
less expense than almost any spot of
equal area | have ever seen within reach
of great city. one of the most beautiful
resorts in the world. Mr..
President, l had intended, when
presenting this subject to the consider
alton of the senate, to have remarked
somewhat freely upon the influence
exert upon those who come hither from
all parts of this great nation to bend
their minds to the dismal science of law
making and of government Those
who for any length of time have under
gone the wear and tear of such life as
this, who have all their energies run
to brain, and all their souls fused into
politics, need not be told that anything
which holds out hope of either mental
or paSSional relief is seized upon
with avidity. How necessary, then,
that all the ennobling infuen-
ceS of natue-the scenic splendOr
OF shifting views. the life and ANNA
ton of gay cOncourSe, the upriSen
majesty Of the forest, the Intoxicating
gladnesS Of spring flowers, the laugh of
the heavens through the playing
branches, the simmer of the waters,
the songs Of birds, graceful forms, in
spirations-should be abHndantly
grouped around this nations capital"
Senator Brown then gave the dimen-
sionS of some Of the famous European
parks, as follows: Hyde Park, $50
acres: Regents park, 372 acres: Wind
sor Little park, 300 acres; Windsor
Great park, $500 acres: Richmond park,
$3.50 acres; Phoenix park at. Dublin,
1000 acres; Garden of Versailles, 5000
acres; Bots de Bologne, 2,15S acres;
English Garden at Munich, 500 acres:
the Prater at Vienna, 1880 acres" He
might have added almost fifty others.
Such facts and arguments support the
policy of securing as many acres as pos
sible for park purposes along the banks
of the Mississippi-Say in the vicinity
OF Minnehaha-W without delay.